On the way to Varkala

Today on our trip to Varkala, where we want to spend the rest of our stay in India, we had a strange surprise. Halfway our driver stopped in a little town and asked if he could go to the Mosque nearby for 5-10 minutes. It happened to be a special Friday and he wanted to do some prayer. We agreed not knowing what was ahead. He had parked the car on the side road where a lot of rickshaws were stationed. He left and we were sitting in this car, windows wide open and waited. People passing by looked often in the car with an astounded face. Someone asked us if we had problems. I had to say that, no, only our driver left for the Mosque and didn't come back yet. Then came a guy with a bicycle with onions and garlic and green fruits and parked just behind our car. Sometime later a big truck came and parked in front of us. In the midth of all this traffic and surrounded by cars and rickshaws we started feeling strange and uneasy. Suddenly my mind brought up a lot of terrorist stories from the last years, like the guy would go to the Mosque and get a bomb there and would come back and blow us all in the air. 2 non-believers less! That was all freaky and I got my 1000 names booklet out and started doing the recitation. Vandana thought we should phone to the hotel and tell them that we were stuck here like that. Finally, after 40 minutes, the driver came back. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, he said, but the prayer went longer then expected. I didn't know what to say and showed him to go ahead.
Before arriving at Varkala he started again with excuses. And told him not to worry, also that I respect his religion and all that is fine, but in business this is simply impossible. I was hesitating in giving him a tip for being such a believer and religious guy, but finally didn't give him none. It had taking us 3 hours from Amritapuri to Varkala! And we were sweating hot and tired by the trip.
What a pleasure when a guy from the hotel was waiting for us to take our luggage and show us our bungalow. After a nice shower and a cup of chai we were alive again.
So watch out for moslem drivers here in Kerala. And there are many. Maybe you don't allow them to go praying while you're waiting in the taxi!
Om namah shivaya